Donald Trump has declared that during his state visit to the UK, there was one person he ‘didn’t want’ at the banquet at Windsor Castle.
The US president and his wife, First Lady Melania Trump, have returned from a two-day trip across the Atlantic.
The two made news while they were in the UK, with Trump being charged of repeatedly violating royal decorum with King Charles. Melania’s fashion choices, meanwhile, attracted a lot of attention.
After a day of events at Windsor Castle, the royals led a state banquet on Wednesday evening (September 17), where a number of big names were appeared.
Among the 160 guests at St George’s Hall were the likes of Apple CEO Tim Cook, media mogul Rupert Murdoch and OpenAI’s Sam Altman – however, Trump said there was one person he ‘asked not [to] be there’.
The Mayor of London.
Trump was unreserved in his criticism as he spoke to reporters aboard Air Force One on his way back to the United States.
“One of the worst mayors in the world,” he said, Sir Sadiq Khan specifically asked to be excluded off the guest list.
The POTUS said: “I asked that he not be there. He wanted to be there, as I understand, I didn’t want him.”
The BBC is aware, nonetheless, that Khan “did not seek or expect an invitation.”
Trump says Khan has done ‘a terrible job’ as mayor, calling him a ‘disaster’ on immigration and suggesting that ‘violence in London is over the roof’.
However, Khan, who previously criticized Trump’s state visit to the UK, seems to have a quite different perspective.
As per BBC, a source close to the Mayor removed Trump’s remarks, saying: “Trump’s politics is one of fear and division. This includes talking down our great capital city.”
“London is a global success story — it’s open, dynamic and safer than major US cities. Perhaps that’s one of the reasons record numbers of Americans are choosing to make London their home.”
When did Donald Trump and Sadiq Khan’s feud start?
This latest spat is just another chapter in what’s become a long-running conflict of words between the pair.
It started in 2015 when Khan condemned Trump’s suggestion that Muslims should be banned from traveling to the US.
The situation worsened when Trump accused the Mayor of failing to handle the 2017 London Bridge terror murder and then put him through an IQ test.
Khan approved the controversial ‘Trump baby’ blimp to be flown over London in protest at the time of Trump’s first state visit in 2019.
‘A stone-cold loser’ is how Trump, who never lets anything get away with it, responded to Khan.
By this year, the enmity is obviously still going strong. During a news conference in Scotland in July, Trump called Khan “a nasty person.” Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer intervened to defend him, stating, “He’s a friend of mine, actually.”
Thousands of demonstrators gathered in Parliament Square to express their outrage at his visit while international leaders and royalty dined at Windsor.
Four individuals were arrested for projecting pictures of Trump and convicted s3x offender Jeffrey Epstein onto Windsor Castle before to the banquet, which further exacerbated the turmoil.
Trump obviously still found time to rekindle one of his favorite feuds, even though the purpose of his visit may have been to strengthen ties between the US and the UK.
